On February 18, in the first round of the Champions League quarter-finals, Paris Saint-Germain played away against Leverkusen.
This is a rain battle.
The rainy game has a huge impact on Paris Saint-Germain's ground attack, especially for pure ground attack players like Ibrahimovic who are not good at heading, which is a disaster.
Lu Wenbin's dribbling and organization in the midfield were also greatly affected.
Of course, the impact of rainy games is mutual. Paris Saint-Germain is affected, and Leverkusen will be affected as well.
It’s just that this is their home ground, they are more familiar with the venue, and are less affected than Paris.
But judging from the strength comparison between the two sides, Paris Saint-Germain should not lose even in the rain.
The most crucial issue is that Paris Saint-Germain's unbeaten record in the league and Lu Wenbin's consecutive goals seem to have used up all their luck.
In this game, Paris Saint-Germain was extremely unlucky both in attack and defense.
Leverkusen, with the cheers of the home fans, pressed the ball all over the field, greatly narrowing the technical gap between the two sides.
In the 8th minute, Ibrahimovic successfully made an offside move and Lu Wenbin made a wonderful pass.
The route was fine and there was no offside, but the ball sank into a puddle halfway through its roll and failed to roll to Ibrahimovic for a one-on-one opportunity.
In the 15th minute, Paris Saint-Germain won a free kick, but Lu Wenbin activated the system skill and the free kick failed to hit the goal frame: Lu Wenbin was unlucky and hit the 20% chance of not hitting the goal frame.
In the 23rd minute, Lu Wenbin made a lob pass in the air, and Cavani, despite the risk of injury, made a very threatening diving header.
Unexpectedly, goalkeeper Leno made a world-class save, blocking Cavani's diving header, which was then cleared by the defender.
In the 34th minute, Lu Wenbin took a powerful long shot from outside the penalty area, but it hit the post and bounced out of the bottom line.
In the 41st minute, Ibrahimovic also took a violent long shot from outside the penalty area, but it was blocked by the desperate Leverkusen defender Volscheid.
The ball hit Volscheid directly in the face, causing his nose to bleed and he fainted. He was eventually carried away on a stretcher and Leverkusen was forced to make a substitution.
But Volscheid's desperate efforts boosted Leverkusen's morale. The remaining players were not afraid, but defended even harder and counterattacked actively.
Finally, at the end of the first half, in the 45th minute, Leverkusen got a corner kick.
The 192cm center forward Kiessling had the upper hand in the header battle with Silva, grabbed the first point and headed the ball, but the ball avoided the fingers of goalkeeper Duchesne and flew into the Paris Saint-Germain goal.
At that moment, more than 30,000 fans in the BayArena burst into deafening cheers that reached the sky.
All the fans threw away their umbrellas and celebrated wildly in the rain.
The Middle Eastern rich team Paris Saint-Germain suffered a fatal blow from Leverkusen at the BayArena and fell behind Leverkusen 0-1.
Afterwards, both sides entered the halftime break with a score of 1-0.
15 minutes later, the two sides changed sides and the rain did not weaken at all. The two sides continued to play in the rain, and Paris Saint-Germain continued their bad luck.
In the 53rd minute, Lu Wenbin moved to the side, and Motta made a forward run in the middle and received a pass from Cavani and also took a long shot, but like Lu Wenbin, it hit the goal post and bounced out of the bottom line.
Today, the goalposts of the BayArena were deliberately making things difficult for Paris Saint-Germain.
In the 69th minute, Cavani's follow-up shot in the penalty area hit the post again. The entire Paris Saint-Germain, from players to fans, could only hold their heads and sigh, speechless!
Instead, Leverkusen was extremely lucky.
In the 77th minute, their striker Deldiyok's long shot from the edge of the penalty area was heading out of bounds.
Defender Alex was in a hurry to clear the ball and didn't pay attention to the flight path of the ball at all, trying to kick it away.
As a result, instead of clearing the ball, he kicked it into his own goal: an own goal.
Leverkusen leads 2-0 at home against Paris Saint-Germain led by Lu Wenbin.
It was not until the 87th minute that Paris Saint-Germain equalized with a header from Cavani assisted by Lu Wenbin.
But the remaining time was not enough for Paris Saint-Germain to equalize the score.
After 4 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Paris Saint-Germain, led by Lu Wenbin, unexpectedly lost 1-2 to Leverkusen away from home in the first round of the Champions League round of 16.
The entire BayArena became a sea of carnival for Leverkusen fans.
The fans threw away all their umbrellas and raincoats and jumped and danced in the stands in celebration.
Paris Saint-Germain, from players to fans, had to leave Leverkusen in frustration.
Not only did they lose the game, but two Paris Saint-Germain players were injured under Leverkusen's desperate pressing and had to rest for half a month.
This also affects Paris Saint-Germain's subsequent league games.
On February 23, in the 26th round of Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain played away against Toulouse. Paris Saint-Germain no longer had the momentum of winning by large scores in the previous league and only achieved a 2-1 away victory, which was thrilling.
Fortunately, they managed to maintain their unbeaten record and winning streak, and Lu Wenbin also scored a goal to extend his scoring streak.
After this game, Paris Saint-Germain finally breathed a sigh of relief and can have a good week to recuperate.
A week later, on March 2, in the 27th round of Ligue 1, Paris Saint-Germain faced Marseille at home.
In this game, the goal-scoring Paris Saint-Germain returned to everyone's familiar sight. Paris Saint-Germain defeated Marseille 5-0 at home and achieved a resounding victory.
However, in the 27th round of Ligue 1 on March 8, Blanc made a large-scale rotation in the away game against Bastia. Lu Wenbin, Matuidi and Ibrahimovic all sat on the bench, and Cavani was not even on the roster.
Because the next game is the second round of the Champions League round of 16. After losing the first round, Blanco must strive to win the second round of the Champions League.
Losing in the league is losing, and it’s not a pity to interrupt the winning streak and unbeaten record. Anyway, the league championship is basically certain to be Paris Saint-Germain’s.
What Paris Saint-Germain wants to break through is the Champions League.
As a result, this league match was basically abandoned by Blanco.
But even with the substitute lineup, Paris Saint-Germain was not bad, and in the end they won a narrow victory with a score of 2-1.
Lu Wenbin and Ibrahimovic came on in the final minutes of the game to find their rhythm, but failed to score a single goal.
Paris Saint-Germain's winning streak and unbeaten record are still continuing, but Lu Wenbin's league scoring streak was interrupted and stopped at 27 games.